Karen Olivo triumphs at Tonys

Karen Olivo won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Anita in the revival of “West Side Story”.

"I'm completely unprepared for this. ... I just want to dedicate this to everyone who has a dream," Olivo said in an emotional acceptance speech after receiving deserved acclamations from the 800+ Tony voters.

Olivo’s award was the only winner for “West Side Story” which got four nominations including one for Argentina’s Josefina Scaglione as Maria. The revival has been praised for incorporating more Spanish lines and lyrics to songs as well as taking a closer look at bigotry and racism.

Olivo took a gamble by leaving her leading role in the Tony-winning “In the Heights” for a supporting role in “West Side Story”. But as she observed in a March interview, the chance to play Anita was too good to pass up:

"[The decision] was more about the role itself. It’s an amazing and iconic part," adds Olivo, who’s of Dominican, Puerto Rican and Chinese descent.

"And it had more to do with the actual [show], which I have known and loved since I saw the movie when I was 5 or 6. It was the sort of thing I would want to do regardless of where I was in my career."

The evening was dominated by “Billy Elliot” which won ten Tonys though its composer Elton John was upset for best score.

Image- newsday.com (Karen Olivo (right) received praise and honors at last night’s Tonys).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Daily News, TonyAwards.com, AP, The Ledger

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A new version of “West Side Story” has just opened on Broadway. The version is somewhat updated from the original theatrical version which debuted in 1957. The most notable difference between the two, however, has been the translation of several songs and lines into Spanish.

With help from Lin-Manuel Miranda- creator of Tony-winning musical "In the Heights"- two of the musical’s best-known songs ("I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That") become "Siento Hermosa" and "Un Hombre Asi." "It was a tall order, but a really fun challenge," said Miranda as the songs are performed splendidly by Argentine Josefina Scaglione as Maria and Karen Olivo as Anita.

Aside from the language changes the new version also takes on a “gritty realism” by taking on bigotry and racism.

Do the changes make a great play even better or is this a case of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”? See for yourself:

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Online Sources- MSNBC, NY1, BBC News, New York Daily News